Sunday 11 November 2012

ARMISTICE DAY 11/11/1918


 Siegfried Loraine SassoonCBEMC (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War.

ATTACK 
AT dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun
In the wild purple of the glow'ring sun,
Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud
The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one,
Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire.
The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed
With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear,
Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire.
Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear,
They leave their trenches, going over the top,
While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,
And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,
Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop! 



A poppy from Flanders Fields.

Myself at The British  cemetery at Arras


British graves at Arras.

Another view of the cemetery  at  Arras, designed by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens  OMKCIEPRAFRIBA (29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) 

2 comments:

  1. It's hard to equate war with poetry but this is so heart-wrenching that it shows one can find poetry anywhere you will find feeling.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When Paul and I were in France, we visited so many cemeteries. Sometimes they were quite small--a fierce battle fought in one spot claiming twenty or so lives. So very sad. We also visited the American WWII cemetery in WWII in Normandy. After walking up and down the rows, we stopped at a grave were a Ranger was killed. He was from NJ, as am I. It just breaks your heart.

    ReplyDelete